WASHINGTON — In the past decade, Sen. Jim Inhofe of Tulsa has made at least 20 trips to Africa as part of a mission that he frequently describes in religious terms.

Inhofe’s African trips have cost taxpayers more than $187,000 since 1999, according to a review of expenses Inhofe and staff members have submitted through the Armed Services Committee.

Some of the trips have been taken on military planes that cost thousands of dollars an hour to operate. The military does not disclose the cost of flying members of Congress to their destinations.

The trips — which Inhofe has referred to publicly as “a Jesus thing” — have spanned the continent, though the senator has spent most of his time in a few countries, including Uganda and Ethiopia. Early this month, he and three U.S. House members visited both of those countries to talk to their leaders about AIDS.

Since his first trip in 1998, Inhofe has visited the continent an average of twice a year. In 2006, he went to Uganda and Ethiopia in March and returned in May. He has said that he has probably visited the continent more than any U.S. senator in history.

He always takes staff members. He typically travels with other lawmakers, mostly conservative Republicans, and sometimes takes his wife.

Inhofe, R-Tulsa, said he personally paid for his first trip. But since 1999, his travel has been funded by taxpayers, with a portion being paid through the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which Inhofe is a senior member.

Inhofe said his work in Africa focuses on humanitarian, national security and economic matters.

He said he has helped get food to severely malnourished children in Ethiopia, brought leaders together to resolve disputes, helped get military training for some African countries’ forces, and focused attention in Congress on corrupt regimes and atrocities.

He has also used the official travel for fellowship activities related to the low-profile religious organization that puts on the National Prayer Breakfast.

“I’m guilty of two things,” Inhofe said in a recent interview. “I’m a Jesus guy, and I have a heart for Africa.”

‘Trying to recruit’

For trips in which Inhofe reported transportation costs, the airfare ranged from $4,727 to go to Ghana, Kenya and Benin in 2002 to $7,200 to go to Ethiopia, Uganda and Italy in 2006.

Inhofe has also asked other lawmakers to accompany him on trips. The Oklahoman did not try to tally all of the travel costs of the House members or other senators who accompanied him.

“I’m trying to recruit people to have an interest in Africa,” Inhofe said. “I’m trying to get members of the House and Senate to understand how valuable Africa is.”

Inhofe has said that he has been asked by the military and the State Department to travel to Africa. The State Department declined to respond to questions about Inhofe’s travels, referring questions to Inhofe’s office.

The senator’s office provided copies of letters to Inhofe from the head of the Defense Department’s African command. Those letters suggested countries Inhofe might visit and topics he might discuss but did not request that the senator travel to Africa, and they appeared to have been written after Inhofe had already decided to make a trip.

‘A good friend of Africa and Uganda’

Inhofe said the State Department rotated employees too often to establish the kind “intimate relationships” he had been able to build.

And, he said, “Nobody in Congress understands or cares about Africa.”

Chairmen of the Senate and House foreign relations subcommittees on Africa declined to respond to Inhofe’s comment about Congress’ alleged lack of interest in the continent.

Charles Ssentongo, deputy chief of mission at the Ugandan Embassy in Washington, said many members of Congress have been supportive of Africa.

He specifically cited Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., who head up the subcommittees on Africa, and Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.

Ssentongo said Inhofe “has been a good friend of Africa and Uganda in particular. Senator Inhofe has been one of the leading voices on the various issues facing our continent.”

Inhofe has been helpful in denouncing the Lord’s Resistance Army, a guerrilla group that operates in northern Uganda, “which has been so brutal to our people,” Ssentongo said.

And he said Inhofe has “played an active role in the faith-based aspect of our anti-AIDS campaign.”

Despite his concerns about AIDS in Africa, Inhofe this year voted against a $50 billion bill that included funding for AIDS treatment and prevention in Africa. Inhofe said the bill spent beyond what the program could absorb.

‘A mission there for many years’

The Tulsa senator has made several public statements linking his interest in Africa to his faith.

At a U.S. House committee hearing in 2005, Inhofe said, “I have had a mission there for many years. It is more of a Jesus thing, but I have spent a lot of time in Africa.”

Inhofe’s efforts are linked to those of a group called The Fellowship Foundation, also identified on its tax returns as the International Foundation.

Inhofe said he first went to Africa at the urging of Doug Coe, the longtime leader of the group.

Based in nearby Arlington, Va., the group puts on the National Prayer Breakfast. The breakfast is held annually and attracts leaders from around the world. The foundation also sponsors activities connected to the prayer breakfast in other countries and sometimes pays for lawmakers’ travels.

On its 2006 tax return, the foundation describes its mission in part as “mentoring, counseling and partnering with friends around the world: The foundation seeks to encourage individuals to integrate the principles of Jesus in their work and in their everyday relationships.”

In an interview with an Assemblies of God publication in 2002, Inhofe said, “I’ve adopted 12 countries all the way from Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, and Gabon in West Africa as far east as Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. I’m planning to meet with nine presidents in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. My focus will be to meet in the spirit of Jesus.”

A common denominator

In 2002, the International Foundation donated nearly $5,800 to charity in lieu of speaking fees to the Republican senator.

The foundation’s tax returns from 2006 show it donated nearly $1 million to a Uganda-based charitable organization and $1,500 to Pentecostal churches in Burundi, another country that Inhofe has visited frequently.

Ssentongo, in the Ugandan Embassy in Washington, said Inhofe has participated in prayer breakfasts in Uganda and that organizers of those breakfasts “have benefited from his (Inhofe’s) wisdom and the people in his office.”

Inhofe said he wasn’t trying to push a specific religious agenda in Africa and that he considered Jesus “a common denominator” in his meetings with African leaders of different faiths.

Said Ssentongo, “He has been very strong on inter-faith dialogue.”

I’m guilty of two things. I’m a Jesus guy, and I have a heart for Africa.”